Botanical Definition
A nut in botany is a simple dry fruit with one seed (rarely two) in which the ovary wall becomes very hard (stony or woody) at maturity, and where the seed remains attached or fused with the ovary wall. Most nuts come from the pistils with inferior ovaries (see flower) and all are indehiscent (not opening at maturity). True nuts are produced, for example, by some plant families of the order Fagales.
- Order Fagales
- Family Juglandaceae
- Butternut (Juglans)
- Hickory
- Wingnut (Pterocarya)
- Family Fagaceae
- Beech (Fagus)
- Chestnut (Castanea)
- Oak (Quercus)
- Stone-oak, Tanoak (Lithocarpus)
- Family Betulaceae
- Alder (Alnus)
- Hazel, Filbert (Corylus)
- Hornbeam
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